Introducing Essential Voice

Zac 🛸 · 2026-04-23T12:00:00+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJd1JO_vVQs Hey Community, Right now, the main way we communicate on our phones is through typing. But speaking is more natural and four times faster. That is why voice notes have become so common. But they are not perfect. They take time to listen to, cannot always be played out loud, and are harder to scan when you just want the key point. Traditional dictation has not really solved this either. It turns speech into text, but often leaves you with something rough and fragmented, including all the ums, uhs and stutters you did not want in the first place. That is where Essential Voice comes in. It turns speech into clear, ready-to-send text in real time – the speed and ease of talking with the clarity and flexibility of text. Integrated into the keyboard and the Essential Key, it’s a step towards voice-first interactions with our devices. #### **More than simple transcription** ##### ![](https://cdn.nothing.community/2026-04-22/1776851642-200080-ev3-ezgifcom-video-to-gif-converter.gif "banner") Better than a simple transcription, Essential Voice cuts filler words for a more streamlined and considered output. Use it to send messages and emails, or format your speech straight into lists, steps or bullet points to help get your point across. #### **Built for multilingual communication** ![](https://cdn.nothing.community/2026-04-22/1776851511-245764-evtrabnslationnew-ezgifcom-video-to-gif-converter.gif "banner") Speak to Essential Voice in more than 100 languages with auto-detection. You can also choose regional variants of languages like English and Spanish. And you can speak in one language and have it translate and transcribe it for you in real time. #### **Shortcuts for the things you say often** ![](https://cdn.nothing.community/2026-04-22/1776851681-65734-ev2-ezgifcom-video-to-gif-converter.gif "banner") Think of this like a text shortcut library you build over time to use specific spellings or add additional text without saying it every time. You can say something like “nothing OS”, and a personal mapping would automatically change that to “Nothing OS”. If you have a favourite restaurant, Essential Voice will link an address to the name and type it out in the transcription instantly. #### **Privacy and Data Handling** Essential Voice activates only when you choose to use it, and it does not listen in the background. Once activated, your audio recording is encrypted and processed on our server. The generated text is returned to your device. It is not stored on our servers. > **Availability** > > Available now on Phone (3). Phone (4a) Pro will follow later this month, with Phone (4a) in early May.

lolifnotely🇮🇱

Dima You can see this on the AI dashboard, it’s based on Gemini 3 Flash…

PaulFreathy

Nothing phone 4a pro this side in the UK. Waiting and waiting and waiting

And waiting.

AlanPurusram

Could anyone tell me how to hide the Gboard keyboard now? The Essential Voice button is now where the Hide button always was! Can’t hide the keyboard if it pops up and covers the lower part of a screen now…🤔

lolifnotely🇮🇱

AlanPurusram you can bring them back in the settings\ai toolkit\essential voice😇

AlanPurusram

lolifnotely🇮🇱 thank you 🏆

HarshitSaini_wRFiyQmv35

When will this Essential Voice feature be released for the Phone (3a) Pro?

KrishnAxNothing

Zac 🛸 eagerly waiting to test this out. Can someone let me know when this would be available for Nothing phone 3a pro?

YangkookKim

Zac 🛸 This is a very cool feature. I’ve been using Typlesw but this seamless integration is essential and makes it really easy for me to use. How can I contribute to this project? I’m using it in Japanese, but there are some glitches that I’ve already found.

Sticky_PRP 🇩🇪

Truly impressive to the development team, this is by far the best feature Nothing has ever released. Extremely helpful.

Anonymous1465

Sticky_PRP 🇩🇪 tbh it’s Google Gemini under the hood so well done Google for all their work 👍

MPurdie

Ok cool but how do we remove it?

The last thing I need is another button I have to try to not touch accidentally.

qu3_8mm

MPurdie under settings>intelligence toolkit>essential voice you can disable the keyboard button

aissi

Zac 🛸 how do I disable it ? It came with the latest os update and now the voice button is taking up space on my keyboard and I want it gone. There’s no option in Intelligence Toolkit in Settings to disable it

Minis

The function itself is very good, but it has some limitations that I don’t like. For short texts, errors occur and not everything is captured. Additionally, languages are sometimes mixed up, which is frustrating. This could be resolved by giving Essential Voice an option to set a main language and a secondary language, as is common in translators. If that’s implemented, it will be great. For now, it’s not quite right.

Minis

The Essential Voice has some issues. Short texts are often cut off, not everything is read, and languages are being mixed up. I speak Polish, and this language is often misinterpreted with short texts. With longer ones, the problem disappears. I think the solution would be a new option in the Essential Voice settings that allows you to choose a primary language and a secondary one, which is often possible in translators.

Sticky_PRP 🇩🇪

Anonymous1465 ye I know, but it’s still better than Google Voice to text

MPurdie

qu3_8mm legend, thank you.

qu3_8mm

MPurdie anytime 🙏

Rehan

Louis ☕️ Is Essential Voice coming to older devices like the Nothing Phone (2a) too?”

Louis ☕️

Rehan As the feature relies on the use of the Essential Key, I would hazard a guess at saying it will not.

Sahil khan 🇮🇳

Zac 🛸 this is so cool…

Rehan

Louis ☕️ okay

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